Don't hold out hope for lower egg prices this year. In fact, you'll probably be paying more, according to predictions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The department said egg prices will increase more than 20% this year in its recent food outlook, while grocery prices overall are expected to increase by about 2%.
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The ongoing bird flu outbreak and inflation are attributing factors to the price increase and egg shortages across the country, officials said.
The average price of a dozen eggs was $4.15 last month, according to government data.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers criticized President Donald Trump's inaction to help lower prices at the grocery stores.
Despite President Trump making promises to immediately lower the costs of groceries if he were elected to office, his slew of executive orders in his first week did not specifically address the high price of food.
“Your sole action on costs was an executive order that contained only the barest mention of food prices and not a single specific policy to reduce them,” the lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), wrote in their letter. “You have tools you can use to lower grocery costs and crack down on corporate profiteering, and we write to ask if you will commit to using those tools to make good on your promises to the American people.”
